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The Cistercian Tutoring Club is a new club established by two sophomores, Ethan Ramchandani, ’21, and me, Saish Satyal, ’21, that is meant to help Cistercian middle schoolers become better students. The club was established in October 2018 and it meets after school every day until 4:30 PM in the Form I classrooms. Participating students have reported getting their highest scores in Science and Math after attending the Tutoring Club. When I asked Ethan why he was inspired to start the club, he said, “I started this club because I wanted to teach children and this seemed like an easy way to help people.”

The club offers academic help to any student in need of assistance. It accepts “walk-ins” as well as “reservations.” Any student that needs help to raise his overall grade in a class can come in, or even a student who only needs help for a particular upcoming test or quiz is welcome to walk in. The tutors of the club recommend that people attend if they have a C+ or lower, even if it isn’t permanent. However, the club is not a place to sit down and get homework done like study hall. The point of the club is to get help in subjects where one’s understanding isn’t clear, not to practice something that one already knows. The tutors will often use problems similar to the homework questions to help their students understand the material better.

Some tutors and students are not able to come in after school because of sports and other extracurricular activities, but they can still be part of the tutoring club, and the club will still keep track of their community service hours. All those students need to do is contact Ethan Ramchandani using his school email and their hours can be logged. Not only does volunteering with the club help tutors earn community service hours, but it’s also a great entry for one’s college application. It can be used to strengthen college essays or polish up those resumes. Although it is hard work, especially after a long day of school, many tutors attest to the feeling of satisfaction, especially after the student understands the material being taught.

This club started with one high schooler who had an idea and decided to implement it. It started out with a single tutor trying to teach two kids at a time in the cafeteria. After a few weeks of trial and error with teaching methods and location, the club finally settled on a single place and it has only grown since then. However, its problems were still not solved. With the winter sports season looming ahead, the club had almost no tutors who had the time to be consistently involved. Luckily, after a strong recruiting campaign, the club was able to gain a strong core of five consistent tutors, with a combined total of more than 100 hours of service. With the help of friends and teachers, the club was able to grow into a place for students to learn, but also have fun at the same time. Teachers passing by the classroom are able to attest to the fact that the children sometimes goof off, but in the end, the job always gets done.

One of the “consuls” of the club stated plans for potential growth in the future: “We are thinking about expanding the club beyond Cistercian and maybe even to smaller schools in our area. The logistics and details of that are still being worked out, but we certainly do not plan to stop here.” With its consistent presence after school, the Tutoring Club is a great place to learn and grow. So come by if you need help with any subject, or talk to Ethan if you are interested in being a tutor. You will not regret it, as it is a joy to help your fellow students grow in their understanding.